Maryland—The aide, Karl Marshall Walker Jr., sent dozens of love notes to an eight-year-old female student, telling her things like, “When you hug me tight, it’s the best part of my day,” and “I don’t think perverted thoughts about you, I just care about you.” He also wrote, “I am sad because I really love you and I am not supposed to,” and “I do think about kissing you sometimes.”

Judge Diane Leasure ruled that the notes were obsessive and signified grooming of the child. Judge Leasure defined them as clearly sexual.

The judge ruled that the teacher’s aide committed sexual abuse of a minor and attempted sexual abuse of a minor. I feel the judge should have also convicted the man of threats or coercion, because the teacher wrote to the girl, “tear this up after you read it, tear the other notes too.” This implies a threat to the child if she does not keep quiet.

The child began receiving the notes in late 2009 and were not stopped until a teacher at the school discovered them in March of this year.

Judge Leasure rightly decided that, although the teacher never touched the girl sexually (that we know of), the aide still committed sexual abuse. Good for the judge because, when the teacher’s aide received hugs from the child, you know damn well he was sexually stimulated during the embrace, and he absolutely sexually abused the girl in a psychological way. The child may have been confused sexually by not fully understanding her feelings or her sexuality, and she may have wondered what she did to provoke the teacher’s sexual attraction to her. This could draw unwarranted shame and guilt from the child.